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Outfit of the Day

I love Summer so much. There’s no question or denying that. In fact – it is one of my favorite seasons for obvious reasons… the beach, endless poolside hangs, the list can go on and on. However; I am so ready for Fall season. I feel like I am not alone when I say I wish Fall was here. Fall dressing is my favorite, so when I received some pre-fall items from Glamorous, I couldn’t wait. I had to wear them, even if it was just for a little while. This floral dress is the perfect wrap dress to transition from Summer into Fall. This beautiful embroidered denim jacket is another item I am swooning over right now. I love how cool and edgy it is.

Happy Tuesday kittens! Monday was the most Mondayest of all Mondays for me to be honest. Anyone else felt that way? It felt like Monday was never going to be over, LOL. Kidding, kinda.

If you follow me on Instagram (@melrodstyle) and follow my IG stories then you know my love for SABO SKIRT is pretty real. I mean, how can you not be obsessed with them?! Forever swooning Sabo Skirt. They’re just so good. Am I right or am I right?! If you don’t know me by now, then get to know me, because it’s really no surprise that I’m a huge fan of SABO SKIRT. A good 60% of my clothes is Sabo Skirt. From their gorgeous silhouettes to the details of each piece, Sabo Skirt can do no wrong when it comes to creating the perfect sets. They’re always killing it in the playsuit department. I’ve been a fan for quite some time now.

I decided to share a few of many favorite Sabo Skirt outfits of mine that you might’ve seen me recently wear on the gram (@melrodstyle).

Which look is your favorite? Comment below. I’m curious to know!

P.S. I’ve linked all Sabor Skirt items below. Just click the icons. P.S.S. I don’t say this nearly enough, but thank you so much for all the love & support to MelRodStyle. You guys seriously mean everything to me, and I am forever grateful and thankful for each and every one of you. It goes without notice, and I definitely see you on Instagram Stories. I see who are my regulars and never miss my stories, and I see the newbies who I appreciate just as much. I luvya so much! I hope you all have an amazing Tuesday. Don’t forget to visit me on Instagram. I’ll be attending a fun event tonight. Stay tuned!

I wanted to talk about a slightly different topic than normal on here – about the thought process behind scheduling my Instagram posts and my entire Instagram feed itself…

“Is it a GOOD photo or is it mediocre?” “Does it look good on my feed?” “Should I start posting only outfit photos and not coffee drinks or pretty flatlays because my outfits get higher engagement?” “Should I completely change my entire feed and try something new?” “Should I share things other than fashion?” “Should I play it safe and only post content that I already know will do well?” ” or should I change it up and not care?” “What direction should I take?” Asking for a friend.

This is how I’ve been feeling lately. I have been in one of those moods where I feel stuck in a rut, confused, lost. Getting out of this weird “funk” is sometimes difficult. Or maybe I’m just having a moment. It happens. I feel like other bloggers know what I’m talking about. I’ve noticed that whenever I post a photo other than outfits, it doesn’t get the reaction I would’ve hoped for. Engagement is super low. While I love my feed to have a variety and not just outfit after another, seems like my followers are not into it. They only like my outfit photos. So what do I do? Should I only post what my followers like instead of what I like?

Don’t get me wrong. I do post what I like and I stay true to myself, but sometimes I look at my feed and think “(Yawning) Ugh, I could’ve done better”. “Boring”. And I don’t like feeling this way.

While you’ll see more of my personality and personal side on my Instagram stories and Snapchat, I do keep my Instagram account strictly blog-related content. I have to. It’s my business, however; you will see my fun-witty-sarcastic side (read IG captions), and share content that is still relevant but not just an OOTD after another OOTD… make sense? That’s what my personal account is for – to show content that isn’t blog-related.

The way I see my Instagram account is if it looks boring to me, then I need to make some changes. I like content that shows some type of breakage, that splits content from repeating similar content in a row, such as beauty or details shots or anything inspiring. I like consistency but not repetitive if that makes any sense.

So while I still try to figure out the plans for my Instagram feed and the direction I plan to take, I do hope that you stick around because I do plan to sprinkle in some new not-your-usual content on my Instagram.

If you have any suggestions or thoughts on this post, feel free to leave me a comment. I love reading them. 🙂

I miss the days when Instagram was easy, stress-free, and not having to worry about how to go around the “new algorithm changes” (literally rolling my eyes as I type this). Remember when you could get 600 likes with less than 10k followers? Or when your feed wasn’t controlled by Instagram’s new formula? Nowadays, you can have 100k followers with only 600 likes, if that (smh).

With the new changes, one must find ways to stay relevant in the blogger world. In other words desperate times calls for desperate measures… I’m talking about Loop Giveaways that have been all over your feed (guilty), and Like/Comment Pods (keep scrolling to read).

As much as it’s annoying to see nothing but loop giveaways on my Instagram feed, I think it is appropriate to do one or two, not three in a day or in a week. Spread them to throughout the months. I made the mistake of doing two within two weeks only because I didn’t realize how close the giveaways were going to be (my bad). I won’t be doing that again.

Although a lot of people have their own thoughts and opinions about loop giveaways and are not fans of them, I am here to say that I see both sides. Some may think it’s like buying followers, but I have to disagree because someone actually ends up winning an amazing gift, while buying followers will only get you fake/ghost followers. These loop giveaways have their pros and cons.

Pros: Influencers who participate in these giveaways have a chance to gain more exposure from a wider audience, which means more followers. This is a pro, especially on a brand’s perspective since, unfortunately a lot of brands care more about quantity versus quality.

Cons: After the giveaway is over, you lose followers (not all but most), which is pretty standard and expected.

It really depends on how you look at it. The way I see them is that it definitely helps your blog/Instagram get recognition. The new followers might not have even known about your blog or Instagram, which can help in your advantage if they like your feed and stick around. OR, perhaps these accounts who are entering these giveaways are just in it for the free stuff (also pretty normal), and are only following for a chance to win, period. It’s really difficult to gage these loop giveaways, but I suggest every influencer who is trying to build their account to try a giveaway to see how they like it. If it didn’t matter about the number of followers you have on Instagram, then none of the above would be relevant. Unfortunately, as a full time blogger (I’ll speak for myself) we have to make sure our numbers keep growing and our engagement is high, which leads me to Like/Comment Pods…

Would I do another loop giveaway? Yeah, maybe – but i’m definitely going to try to host more giveaways on my own and see how that works out. Not only for exposure but for my followers because I luv ya. 😉

LIKE / COMMENT PODS

For those of you who are not familiar with these pods, they are DM groups through Instagram or through the Telegram app (I’m sure there are others) with different bloggers who share their Instagram posts for the group to like and or comment on each other’s posts. It’s another way to support one another. I briefly mentioned my thoughts about it on my 5 Instagram Pet Peeves blog post. Very similar to my thoughts on loop giveaways – I’m not against them. My only issue is when other bloggers do not catch up, meaning like or comment on your posts. The way it works is that you must be caught up with whoever is involved in the group by liking and or commenting before sharing your posts with the group. Some follow rules, while most do not… this is based off my experience by the way. I had to leave a few groups because I felt like I was abiding by the rules while others were using lame excuses like “sorry no wifi, will catch up later” yet still share their post. This topic is silly, really. And I’m sure more for those who are reading this who are not bloggers, but this is the blogging world we live in.

Anywho, these are my thoughts on loop giveaways and like/comment pods based off my experience. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments.

I’m an LA girl, and although I’ve called LA my home since I could remember, there is so much to see, places to visit, food & drinks to enjoy that I still have yet to visit… you name it! So when Farfetch invited me to join them on an LA adventure, I couldn’t resist.

FIRST STOP

There were three blogger groups. My group met at the cutest most chic boutique: Loit, where we received a Farfetch gift, and had an on-site photographer for the entire day. Hashtag YASSS!

SECOND STOP

Followed by drinks and small bites at the Rosy Oyster. There was a complimentary piercing station, courtesy of J. Colby Smith’s Adrian D. Castillo.

I got two ear piercings, who am I?!

THIRD STOP

After that, we departed to meet the rest of the bloggers at the Marciano Art Foundation.

FINAL STOP… last, but not least.

We ended the evening at Mama Shelter, and got glammed by the Glam Squad right before dinner. Dinner was beyond amazing!

I had an amazing time. It was fun-filled adventurous day with Farfetch.

If you are ever in LA or visiting for a few days, I highly recommend visiting all these places.

Before I share my five Instagram pet peeves, I wanted to explain why I decided to draft this post.

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon a heart-breaking post. Someone recently going through a miscarriage, and while most were sympathizing with her sending love and prayers her way, others failed to read the full post and leave comments like “Where is your blouse from?” and “Love this” and “Congrats” because many assumed that since she shared an ultrasound photo that it automatically meant she was announcing her pregnancy.

Now fast forward to last week, while I was scrolling down my Instagram feed, I came across a post of this beautiful girl in her wedding dress, shared by an influencer I follow – mourning over the recent loss of her dear friend. I know this because – as always I like to not only see pretty inspirational photos, but read the captions as well. Most were replying with “Sorry for your loss”, while others “So obsessed” and “Love this look”. I don’t know about you, but this didn’t sit well with me. It never does. I mean, come on people read the captions! You might as well say GFY.

Sorry. This just really annoys me.

Per usual, while doing my daily blog reads, I read Sivan’s recent My Instagram Pet Peeves post, and decided to add my two cents on this subject, specifically on the robotic comments, because it’s a total eye-twitcher for me.

Without further ado… here are my five Instagram pet peeves.

Read the captions. Especially if you are planning to leave a comment. Know what you are commenting on, and be genuine. Get creative even. Don’t leave comments, like “Fabulous look” or “Maj” or my favorite “Great capture”… Great capture?! WTF!!! Do people even speak like that? I know there’s been times when even I leave generic comments, but it’s never comments I wouldn’t actually say in real life. I always try to leave organic comments. I try to think as if I were running into a friend and she asked me what I thought of her OOTD. I like to leave comments as if I were speaking to a girlfriend in real life. Does this make sense? If you’re not going to leave a genuine comment then maybe don’t comment at all.

Inappropriate commenting. This ties back to #1. If someone is mourning over the loss of their pet, relative, anything tragic, don’t comment with a happy emoji or make irrelevant remarks. Don’t compliment someone’s shoes when they are clearly talking about a recent breakup. Have some respect. Don’t be rude. Read the post.

Reposting. If you’re going to repost an image, ALWAYS make sure to give credit. While we all love pretty photos, it’s important to tag the account you got the photos from. Don’t be a thief. Lol.

Like / Comment Groups. Oh, yeah this is a real thing. I think they’re great because it allows you to share your content with other influencers that may or may not get to see it other feed and/or get introduced to new influencers you might’ve not known before. It’s another way to support one another in this blogging community, especially since Instagram changed their algorithm. I’m totally apart of them, well was a part of several now I narrow it down to one for the following reason. My only issue with this is the strict rules you have to abide by that no one seems to ever follow. The rules are simple: before sharing your photos, you must be caught up and like/comment on everyone else’s photos. My favorite is when they say they’re caught up but they’ve missed a few photos. Or when they share their photos before catching up, but say they have bad connection or no wifi so they’ll catch up later… Sooooo if you have no service, then how did you manage to post a photo and then share it on the group? I’m confused.

Do not follow and unfollow accounts. That’s pathentic. It’s lame. Who does that?! This has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves. I know I’m not the only one that has experienced this before. Maybe I’m just the first to speak up about it. This has happened to me multiple times where I notice influencers with larger accounts follow and unfollow me right away. I know it’s only to get my attention to follow them back and once I do, unfollow me. Sometimes I do follow back because my first reaction is “oh cool, ___ is following me. I don’t know them personally but I’ve seen them. I’m going to follow them back.” I’m all about supporting one another. If you’re trying to increase your following, do your research and tag relevant accounts with huge followings that can potentially repost your photos and increase your audience. Don’t be fake. After all, no one likes a shady bishhh. 😉

Before I go, I wanted to say that I hope you all take this as simply me just venting and sharing my thoughts, experiences, and perspective. I hope this doesn’t make anyone upset. I treat my blog like a diary so I hope you understand my reason for publishing this post.

Off to a bridal shower… just kidding, but how perfect is this two-piece to wear for a bridal shower, any shower, or a wedding even…?! I may not be attending a wedding anytime soon, but if I were, this two piece cutie would definitely be an option.

If you’ve got a wedding or bridal shower coming up, then look no further (I gotcha boo) because I’m sharing a few wedding appropriate looks to wear this season. Scroll through and click below…

If you follow me on Instagram (@melrodstyle), you know that George and I recently celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary in Puerto Vallarta. It was so much fun. We were able to celebrate with some of our dearest friends.

Our days were spent hanging by the pool, relaxing by the beach, enjoying cocktails after cocktails after cocktails… oh, and did I mention cocktails?! 😉 We had the best food, too by the way. Still thinking about that ceviche… mouthwatering.

We also got to go on a fun excursion and ride the razors around town, followed by a quick dip at a waterfall that lead to a river, and a tequila tasting.